Burn
by PrInCeSsFBi
Summary: Anders didn't have friends. Well, he didn't have friends that he didn't want to sleep with or pay. It was just a fact of life. A sad one but true. He just wasn't the type of guy who went out to the pub with a mate and talked about shit with a drink in his hand. "Hercules. Son of Zeus. You can call me Henry. I'm a friend of his."


**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Anders didn't have friends. Well, he didn't have friends that he didn't want to sleep with or pay. It was just a fact of life. A sad one but true. He just wasn't the type of guy who went out to the pub with a mate and talked about shit with a drink in his hand. Michelle had thought, stupidly, that there had been a possibility of an alliance. One that was give and take for both sides, of course. But that had fallen through and she was willing to take part of the blame. She should have seen that it wouldn't have worked. But she had moved on and knew that Anders was once again that useless prick brother of the All Father. Not that she was bitter or anything. Oh no. She was a big girl who could take care of herself. She knew whose circle to join and who to fuck to make sure she had an upper hand on everything. But then again there was nothing worse than a woman scorned. Imagine what a pissed off goddess could to do.

However, there would be time for that later.

She loved her job. It was a place where no one bothered her and people did what she told them to do without question. Sick and injured people were an unfortunate part she had to deal with. She hated sick and injured people. Still, the high from her superiority kept her going everyday. But when she received the file on her way to her next patient she could only curse in annoyance.

_Anders Ian Johnson_

_Blood Type: AB Negative_

_DOB: 12/1/76_

She slammed the folder shut without reading the rest and with a swing of her hips she turned towards the room. A smirk pulled on her lips as she thought about all the ways she could possibly poke fun at the mess the prick had gotten himself into when she pulled aside the curtain. Like she said, Anders didn't have friends. Yet for some reason there sitting next to Anders, who was holding a bloody cloth pressed to his hand and laughing with an easy smile, was someone she had never seen before. He was in a finely pressed suit that sculpted his frame with a brilliant smile that had Michelle wanting to lick her lips. He was absolutely gorgeous!

"Oh you have to be fucking kidding me!" Anders groaned when he saw her, knocking her from her trance. The man next to him lifted a brow and looked between the two of them.

"What mess have you gotten yourself into this time? Did someone slam your hand in a car door?" Michelle said with a mocking bite in her tone.

"No." The man said confused. He looked to Anders who just shrugged with an innocent look on his face. He had an accent. American. But it fit him so well that Michelle couldn't help but smile. Turning to Anders though her smile turned into sneer.

"Pity." Rolling her eyes she put the file down on the cart the nurse had brought in and with professional ease she pulled on latex gloves.

"Kinky." Anders quipped eying the gloves with a smirk but Michelle ignored him. Grabbing his hand he winced at her firm touch.

"Oh did that hurt? So sorry."

The man frowned at the interaction between the two and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Michelle pulled the bloody cloth from Anders hand and if it had been any other patient she would have winced in sympathy. There were jagged cuts along his palm and blisters were littering the burns on his fingers.

"Do I even want to know?" She sighed.

"For your information," Anders said between gritted teeth. "I broke a plate that had hot food on it. It's this thing called lunch and you are ruining it."

"Oh I'm so terribly sorry. Does this," She dapped one of the burns she was cleaning harder than necessary making Anders jump with a short yelp. "Make it better? No. Oh well..."

The man, Anders's friend, put a hand on the god's forearm to steady him and glared at Michelle in a way that was too incredibly hot for her to feel threatened by.

"So," He said slowly. "I take it you two know each other."

"You could say something like that," Michelle said coyly probing at the wound.

"Sjöfn. Goddess of bitchiness. " Anders growled trying to yank his hand away. Michelle stopped and looked up at Anders before a smile curled onto her lips. Another god? She turned to Anders's friend with such a feral gleam in her eyes that he squirmed again.

"Hercules. Son of Zeus. You can call me Henry." Michelle's brow rose high on her forehead and she gave a little laugh that sent Anders on edge. Good. She liked seeing Anders fidget. It meant she was in control.

"Seriously? What are you doing hanging around this little shit?"

"I'm a friend of his." Henry said indignantly.

Michelle scoffed as if he had just told a stupid joke. "Anders doesn't have friends."

Henry's frown deepened and she could tell he was trying hard to remain polite.

"Yeah, well he's got me."

She was sure he hadn't meant for it to sound as cheesy as it did but instead of blushing in embarrassment, Henry stood by it. Her brows rose again and she had to stop. It wasn't often she met up with a challenge. But from the way Henry's blue eyes had lost any of the sparkle they had in them when she first walked in Michelle could tell she had angered him. She was on the verge to tell him that he should get out while he could before Anders screwed him over, she had been a charitable mood, but Henry's jaw clenched and she thought better of it. Hercules. There was no telling what he could do and she was smart enough not to anger him too much. Besides, it could be fun to watch Anders get his arse kicked by a Greek. A hot American Greek reincarnation of the son of Zeus. Maybe he would get struck by lightning! Smirking at him, she eyed Henry hungrily.

"Well this is cute," Anders quipped after a long pause. "But I'm also in the room so if you could fix up my hand now doctor woman that'd be great."

Michelle twisted her neck to give him a pointed glare but caught something that was way more intriguing than the mysterious Henry. Anders was looking incredibly uncomfortable and she knew she had never seen Anders look like that before. Anders liked to be in control. He thought he always had the upper hand even when he didn't but he was cocky and arrogant so no one noticed when he didn't. And despite the smug smirk on his face she could see the nervous tension he was hiding. She wasn't sure whether it was the pain or herself and Henry but it was there nevertheless and Henry had seen it long before she had.

Michelle sighed and glanced down at the hand again. "You are going to need to get stitches along this cut. First and second degree burns here. Basically it's going to hurt for a while. I can stitch you up and give you an antibiotic cream. Don't move. I'll be back. And if you do move I don't really care."

Michelle strode out of the room to the nurses' desk but not before she caught Henry mutter over to Anders.

"I can see why you hate going to the doctor's so much." The two snickered like they were a bunch of school girls.

* * *

When Michelle returned Henry was at the end of the hallway on the phone, hand in pocket, and speaking as if he was Bragi himself. Anders must have given him some of his tricks. Cocky little shit. She pulled the curtain open to Anders's room who had been staring at the floor. He rubbed an unconscious hand on the nape of his neck and held his hand expectantly out to her. Lifting a brow she gasped in mock shock at his compliance. Instead of taking the bait though he just gave her an aggravated glare.

"You really hate the doctors don't you?" She chuckled to her own amusement.

"Are you kidding?" He said lightly. "With the hospitality I've received here? It's the best."

His sarcasm was leaking through his voice but it sounded tired and Michelle knew it was killing him to have to lie down in their little power play. She couldn't help but feel a little bit of satisfaction as she went about prepping.

"Does your brothers know about your new glorified bodyguard?" She asked. Anders tensed as she pulled on a pair of new gloves and kept his inappropriate joke to himself this time.

"He's not my bodyguard."

"Really," She let the word roll around on her tongue. "Are you fucking him?"

Anders snorted out a laugh that never ceased to irritate her. "That's cute, Michelle. No. But if you want to fantasize about me later that's fine. Ah-"

He gasped as she stabbed the needle into his flesh.

"Just a pinch. Should be numb any second now." She said sweetly as she swiped the smug look off his face. "So what do you want with him?"

"I don't want anything with him. Is that too hard to believe?" Anders growled staring murderously at his numbing hand.

"Yes. I find it hard to believe that he just likes you for your personality."

"Lots of people like me."

"No on likes you, Anders."

"Ouch." A smirk brought out Anders's dimple but it didn't last long. She couldn't help but notice how he kept glancing up at the curtains waiting for someone to pop through. He thought he was being discreet but Michelle was quick and Anders wasn't as clever as he thought he was. Interesting.

The curtain opened as Henry ducked into the room smile on his face. The apprehension Anders had had dropped instantly and he relaxed long enough in her grip. Intrigued she put it in the back of her mind to consider later and took her moment to start stitching his hand with practiced ease.

"Thanks." Henry said as he handed Anders back his phone before plopping himself down in the hard plastic chair he had been sitting in earlier. Raising a brow at the work Michelle was doing he smirked up at Anders.

"Do you want to hold my hand?" Anders glanced down and scowled again at the needle. He hadn't even noticed Michelle start.

"Touch my hand and I'll get one of the nurses to give you a little snip so that little Hercules won't be running around in the near future."

"Hold still." Michelle chided before focusing back on her task. Henry took his cue from her and started talking to Anders, distracting him.

"Does New Zealand have snakes?"

"Yes." Anders drew the word out slowly.

"Great." Henry groaned.

"But only in the sea."

"Still not really helping."

Michelle couldn't help but wonder why the sudden interest had struck Henry but at the moment she had been too lost in her work to really participate in the conversation. She'd find out soon enough she was sure. Whatever it was though it was doing the trick. Anders was distracted enough for her to work through the long cuts without much fight from him.

It was strange seeing Anders react the way he was around Henry. He was relaxed and smiling in a way she hadn't seen him interact with the other gods. But Anders didn't have friends. That was just who he was. And she was sure this was going to be the same as any other relationship he had built up. One way or another Henry was going to be burned and it wasn't going to end well. She was sure of it.

**a/n: Thus the beginning to an era**


End file.
